RP: YSS Miharu Prologue, Day 3

Yukari suddenly spoke.

"The NH-27 ... were they Samurai? Or Samurai-trained?" She had never had the time while on the Sakura to investigate past incidents.

"I can't really say, even now." Kotori shook her head. "I'd assume they would have been shock troop material for secret operations since they had been part of SAINT and had access to a lot of experimental nekovalkyrja types. If they could have NH-18 and NIWS units, it doesn't seem farfetched to have access to NH-27 bodies too."

Mizuho, who had been silent and listening through this next development in the briefing, gave a wan smile and offered her first bit of insight aside from questioning. Some of the conclusions drawn by the others she could agree with, some she had her own ideas on.

"I think we can fairly say that Black Spiral has access to everything we do, and a few things we dont. Aside from this, they know where we operate from, we have no such information on them. An uphill battle." She grinned. "I like this. Quite a bit."

Her glance passed towards Nyton. "I agree, largely, with your suspicion on Black Spiral and New-Jen." A glimmer. "Perhaps I am letting old hostilities surface here, but to me it seems, if they were so keen to create a weapon superior to the Nekovalkyrja... they would have little use for the trillions of us created. And what better way to test the superiority of their new weapon, yes, than to use it to exterminate the old? All that really concerns me... or surprises me, for that matter... is the readiness of our secret factions to betray our interests."

A musing smile. "It sets an unhappy precedent, after all. And demonstrates, perhaps, that Neko are far less beholden to the will of the Empire than some would think. How long, Nyton-san, do you think New-Jen worked at this?"

She sounded almost too happy.

What kind of tactical consultant enjoys the thought of being underinformed, outmaneuvered, and possibly outgunned? Tomi smoothed back her hair absently, a bit of a nervous habit. The briefing so far was making her anxious- though they hadn't quite reached the actual mission description, the background information provided suggested that it would involve far more combat than research.

She didn't enjoy the thought of going up against the Mishhu- she may have been inexperienced, but she'd heard enough of the species' cruelty to want to give them a wide berth. Of course, if half of the briefing was true, that was probably no longer a real option. That the super-efficient killing machines they would likely be facing had initially been designed to defend the empire only made things painfully ironic.

"As usual," she mused under her breath, "the biggest threat to humanity is itself."

A smile tugged at the corners of Nyton's mouth. The thrill of the challenge had begun to excite him. Mizuho was right. This truly was an uphill battle. But an uphill battle was by far more challenging and more entertaining than an easy win. Her demeanor had also begun to allay his earlier worries. Perhaps they would be able to work together well. I like the way she thinks.

"If PNUgen has been and continues to be involved then it could have started anywhere from six years ago when the 'project' began or it could have been at the very beginning when the first Nekovalkyrja was made. The Ningyo Heiki project could have intended to develop the Misshuvurthyar after the first several models had been fielded and proven. Or they could have been striving to create a more powerful being and arrived at the Misshu model at one point or another." Nyton said. "That is 'IF' PNUgen is still involved." he added sarcastically.

Nyton then looked over to Kotori. "During the battle of Hoshi no Iori I was assigned to the Sakura for my first assignment. There was a lull in the battle where we were regrouping and requesting further instructions when we were all ordered to retreat. I always wondered why we gave up Iori not to mention the fact that the SMX had managed to strike Yamatai space from literally behind us. It wasn't a bad move I thought but no one ever seemed to know how they did it. Everything you've told us now gives me an inkling as to how. However the main issue I meant to bring up was the order supposedly came directly from Taisho Yui herself. When you said that the Sakura had been boarded by the authority of Empress Yuumi that has led me to be suspicious about that order again. Even Rufus acted slightly confused by that but with the emotions of the battle we all quickly dropped it." Nyton's mind was able to bring the event back to the forefront with the help of his memory enhancer despite how long ago it had occurred. He mentally grinned for having had that installed years ago.

Nyton's eyes flashed a bit and looked back to Mizuho. "If PNUgen is still involved then they would have the data for every neko ever created. With such data readily available they would easily be able to create another Yui or Yuumi to work within the system and fool everyone. It would be hard to argue with such an authority and it sounds like exactly what Black Spiral would need to operate with so much impunity. Or even if PNUgen is not involved, such data could easily have been acquired. This again could be why the Empire has been going back and forth with the SMX. If they are fielding their newest weapons in combat against the previous models this whole war in fact could be nothing more then an ongoing experiment to test their weapons."

There was a pause as Nyton stopped and took a breath before he squinted his eyes and pondered some more. "Maybe once the first NH series had proven themselves after the Elysian wars and other conflicts they had to create an 'enemy' that would rival the NH series while taking it in a whole new direction. This would in turn force the NH series to constantly improve itself while also improving the 'aggressor' force as well. You could be right there with the extermination of the old models through warfare. After all, destruction through a war gives them a far better excuse to kill the older nekos."

Nyton then crossed his arms and looked up. "I guess while I'm still just speculating, I could offer that the reason our secret factions betrayed the Empire is because either they don't believe they are betraying the Empire if they think they operate under the authority of Taisho Yui, or they were never really our factions at all and were merely working to generate this conflict in the first place. Maybe there is someone pulling all these strings into one long convoluted conspiracy. Maybe there are several someones. I find it hard to believe it would be just one being doing all this but stranger things have happened."

Yukari kept quiet, now that her question had been answered. She was not a conspiracy theorist, and found herself lacking the necessary facilities to participate at that point.

Masako kept her silence throughout the entire briefing as she tried to assimilate all the information being thrown at them. Unlike her other compatriots, who seemed to take the fact that the Mishu were created by the Empire well, Masako's pale face seemed to become even more pale and her thoughts returned to her first and only contact with the SMX.

Transferring to the Nozomi with another armor pilot, she had fought off an ambush of pods and a single warship with just her Mindy and the other pilot's Kylie. Both had come out of it wounded and had to escape via methods coming close to piracy, but they had survived. It was a horrible experience that the raven-haired neko never wanted to experience again.

Now, Ketsurui-Taii was telling them that the Empire was responsible for the very threat they were now facing. It appalled the young neko to think that many had died because an experiment was coming back to bite the creator. Masako shivered slightly, but kept her silence as Mizuho and Nyton went on about PNUgen and their involvement. Another shiver went down the young neko's spine and a sense of revulsion and bile followed in its wake as she now began to look not only disturbed, but sick to her stomach as well. She had been created by PNUgen like many other nekovalkyrja had been and thinking of these Mishu and nekos of the Black Spiral to have been created by the same people as she had been made her feel as if she had personally been betrayed.

"Nyton-san, I believe I will enjoy working with you." Mizuho let a curl cover her lips again. Her reasons for enjoying the concept of an uphill battle rested more in fatalistic passion than a desire for challenge, the wish to constantly be challenged had left her some time before her unceremonious discharge while aboard the Mikomi. "Although conjecture, I do not think does us much good right now. We have our enemy, but Kotori-san has yet to give us..."

A slight purr. "...our mission."

"I have more details to cover with you first, though." Kotori found it vaguely funny that her crew had started on conspiracy theories, just like she had when she had received a very similar briefing in the Empress' Palace Red Room.

"After the matter with the Lorath was resolved, the Sakura returned to Yamatai, Taisa Rufus Sydney intent on giving his crew some R&R in addition to asking Taisho Yui what was the deal with the nekos flying in a black Sakura gunship operating to undermine the Star Army. Prior to the meeting proper, one notable incident which occured was what I suspect was a Black Spiral execution squad going out of its way to end the life of the Sakura's science officer, Miles Gunn, whom was perhaps the most versed on the matter of the unfolding conspiracy."

"It stands as important for me to state this: the Black Spiral dared act in the confines of Kyoto and used a tank to try and eliminate the nepleslian doctor. When that failed, they tried to finish the job with a neko sniper assassin and nearly succeeded in ending Gunn's life. Even more importantly, it seems they got away with it, even in Yamatai's capital city."

"Then, the Sakura's crew were assembled together at the Empress' palace once everyone had more or less recovered and we were given a briefing very similar in content to what I told you so far. The Sakura's assignment, once it underwent a refit, was to seek out the Black Sakura and take her on, preferably to capture her so we could get at the bottom of the conspiracy. Our best lead was that one of their recent resupply points had been the secret Scorpio Base in the Ketsurui Nebula."

"The Sakura, shadowed by the YSS Azalea and the YSS Oniyuri - on which Taisho Yui was at the time - went to Scorpio Base and we got in touch with the people responsible of maintaining their power armors. We learned that their Mindy were typically black colored, with spikes over the shoulders, elbows and the knees in addition to a sweeping black cape which had - preditably enough - a spiraling motif of it. They had access to special equipment such as the new teleportation module, positron rifles, psionic bombs and the like." Kotori shrugged. "However, aside from gaining access to a handful of teleportation and experimental barrier modules for our own Mindy, the trail got cold there."

"When we returned to the Sakura with the new hardware, I ran my own little investigation and also found the situation over Hoshi no Iori to be a little strange. The Sakura's MEGAMI and I dug around a bit and I finally obtained Taisho-Yui's permission to investigate Hoshi no Iori to see if the Black Spiral had anything to do with how it was seized a year before. The two other gunships, meanwhile, investigated a moored Black Spiral scoutship whom apparently was not aware we were trying to seek the Black Spiral out yet."

"Though our investigation at Hoshi no Iori yielded nothing remarkable to our search itself, it went a long way into confirming something I suspected then: when Hoshi no Iori had been captured by the Mishhuvurthyar, the Star Army personnel whom had left last had taken upon themselves to disable the shipyard construction facilities. When the Star Army reclaimed the circumstellar ring, the facilities had been found in good working order." Kotori allowed herself to smile smugly. "We didn't understand why the Black Spiral supposedly showed many KFY-unregistered ships passing through Scorpio Base - secrecy could only go so far, after all - but if the Mishhuvurthyar had provided them with their own manufacturing installations for the period Hoshi no Iori was out of Star Army hands, at least six months, it would have really helped the Black Spiral's capability to act independantly like they are doing now."

Nyton silently agreed with Mizuho and decided that any further theories should just wait until Kotori had given them their mission. The information that continued to be presented began to irritate him somewhat.

Miles had information on all of this? What the hell were they thinking to have this knowledge and not tell me? I would imagine that knowing our ship would be the target of some hostile super secret organization would have been somewhat important. I am certainly glad Kotori is filling us in on this now but having walked into that and being told that I wasn't 'cleared' to know is almost insulting. he thought. Nyton seethed a bit but let the thought fall back so that he could better focus on the briefing.

Yes, if the puzzle pieces really are what they seem then it would make perfect sense to have given up Iori to the SMX to allow the Black Spiral time to make their ships. I wonder if there was anything else that was special about that location or if it was just the ship yards they were after. It would also explain why we were able to so easily retake it. This will make it difficult to know who we can trust and who we cannot trust. Perhaps even the PANTHEON system should be suspect. They could easily hack in or even just have the passwords to access every piece of information they want. Nyton thought with a slight hint of worry. He dispelled the paranoia but noted it for later examination. However that might actually make things easier. If they are using our own system to manipulate us, we could possibly use it to track them down.

Nyton settled back to continue listening to Kotori.

Ironically, what Kotori said next echoed some of Nyton's inner thoughts. "Though most of the details about Hoshi no Iori's useage by the Mishhuvurthyar was confirmed later, at the time, we had a great deal of trouble investigating because the PANTHEON was seriously acting up, making looking up records, accessing ST backups and communicating a lot less easier than usual. This was certainly too coincidental not to be related to the Black Spiral, whom we were trying to get hold of."

"Luckily, even though we hit a dead end, Taisho Yui's side of the investigation yielded the location of an hideout the Black Spiral used in the Chen nebula. With our intel indicating there were roughly thirty ships or so over there, our own discussions seemed to favor a diplomatic approach - as naive as it sounds - because Ketsurui Hanako-Taisa felt it hadn't been tried before and Sydney-Taisa did not seem to have a better idea."

"Our plans never reached fruition, though." Kotori rubbed the back of one of the furred ear for a moment. "A duo of Sakura gunships caught up with us and arrested us on charges of treason, under the orders of Taisho Yui. As you must understand, we thought these orders were bogus, but the nekovalkyrja carrying them out seemed adamant and were also part of the Star Army's second fleet - we had little choice but to play along at the time. Taisa Hanako managed to pull out a contingency to retain control of the Sakura's MEGAMI and I secretly remained behind in the bridge while the rest of the bridge crew was herded up into one of the gunships which had docked with us."

"At that point, a dozen of mishhuvurthyar gunships appeared and engaged us. The gunship docked with us was destroyed with all hands lost, which included Taisa Sydney. Taisa Hanako was wounded and in no shape to do anything, so, I took command and struggled to get the Sakura's crew organised and to escape the grasp of a SMX carrier which showed up."

The Taii shook her head at the memory. "It didn't amount to very much though. My efforts were ruined by Pumpkin's intervention - she had probably snuck aboard back at Hoshi no Iori when the Pantheon had started acting up - and the neko/mishhu hybrid captured both me and Hanako and escaped with the assistance of a Black Spiral NIWS unit, finally using a Fox shuttle to reach the Black Sakura which was conveniently nearby."

"The Sakura never got anywhere close to the Chen nebula: I managed, before I passed out, to order the MEGAMI to get the ship and its mostly crippled crew back to the headquarter of the 1st XF while Hanako and I ended up in the Black Sakura's containment cells for 'questioning'."

The urge to widen his eyes from shock was stifled but a quick twitch in Nyton's left fingers gave the only indication of a reaction to Kotori's follow on.

They HAVE been using the PANTHEON system. If the system is linked to all the ships and facilities then how can anything remain hidden from them? Nyton thought with that paranoia suddenly resurging. At the news of Rufus's death he felt a slight pang of remorse. Damn, so even Rufus was killed by these guys. Well, temporarily since he was commanding that other Sakura ship so that meant his ST backup was good and working. Still... I don't want to die even if I have an ST made. What if it's not really me and my soul doesn't actually transfer to the new body? I just hope my memory backup can be salvaged and downloaded into the new body.

The side track on the dealing with death and mortality lasted only a few seconds as Kotori continued on to discuss the arrest and ambush. That sounds very suspicious. I really am beginning to wonder if they have made an unregistered Yui clone. If they made one of Kotori then how hard could it be to make one of Yui?

Nyton let his thoughts rest for a moment, reassured that he could return to them as certainly as he had continued to record all of this. Undoubtedly there would be more to learn from Kotori as she continued.

Masako kept listening quietly as Ketsurui-Taii explained what had happened during missions meant to find and route out the Black Spiral with shock hitting her mind. Who would have thought all of this was happening right under our noses, she thought as she scratched the tip of her ear. PNUgen, SMX, Black Spiral...how far does this go? And we're going to be dealing with them it seems, Masako continued as she looked down at the floor for a second before looking back up at her commanding officer.

Both the SMX and the Black Spiral are as technologically advanced as the Star Army. Find this maybe difficult, but stopping them will be even harder, she thought in worry.

Kotori hesitated. She wasn't sure how to approach the next subject. She finally swallowed hard and said: "I will spare you the gory details of the interrogation itself and tell you what I managed to learn before I was released."

"While we were held by the Black Spiral, Pumpkin - despite being an antagonist - treated us well. She was willing to open up dialog with us and the worst we really got from her was a verbal lashing. I'd venture to say I'm rather positive what we learned from Pumpkin was true because there were bits and pieces that Pumpkin refused to reveal or else we'd be a danger to her faction if we were to be released... which marks the point that Pumpkin hoped to release us."

"That's more than I can say about the rest of the crew on the Black Sakura. One thing they have no regard for is the way the Star Army treats its prisoners. It could be understandable, seeing the uphill battle they've had to wage and the need to be ruthless if they were to success. Unfortunately, after Pumpkin was done talking with us, they weren't nearly so gentle as the former."

Kotori sighed; she really didn't want to broach that subject any closer than she had to. "Anyhow. The Black Spiral represent a faction of nekovalkyrja and Mishhuvurthyar whom intend to ensure that they remain the dominant species in the Empire. They are strongly opposed to how the nekovalkyrja are being dumbed down in favor of the human culture despite them being the majority, with more 'human' nekovalkyrja types such as the NH-29 showing up along with the reorganising of the fleets which apparently tosses trillions of the nekos in the garbage."

"Essentially, they want the nekos to cease being subservient to Imperial rule. They also seem to have been strong supporters of the democracy the late Empress Ayame was pushing for before she died; so, they might not have something to do with at least that."

"Pumpkin claimed that their collective forces had access to a military might which exceeded what the Star Army of Yamatai could field and that they even had the support of Yui." Kotori paused. "I think you all can understand how it would have baffled Taisa Hanako and myself. My own impression was that there had to be a clone of the Mistress Taisho somewhere, and a hidden stash of vessels which were either forgotten with time or considered lost. I'll address that later."

"At some point, I was curious on what Pumpkin really was and asked her if she was originally a nekovalkyrja or a mishhuvurthyar. She replied that she had always been a neko, and that the body she currently was using - the one we called the Type 9 Hybrid Mishhuvurthyar - was actually a NH-25."

Kotori was silent before adding. "I asked what model the Mishhuvurthyar were... Pumpkin answered that the Mishhuvurthyar allied to the Black Spiral wanted the same free nekovalkyrja nation... small wonder, considering the first Mishhu were born of the NH-19 prototypes whom had been designed to mate with an alien species PNUgen uncovered which Pumpkin referred to as 'the Dark Ones'. The offsprings born from that union would be the common, Type 1 Mishhuvurthyar we've come to know... and then turned into one of the greatest menace the Empire has ever faced by the infectious mental urgings of the Dark Ones... which we've only known as the Type 7 Dark Mishhuvurthyar before now." The holographic displays showed, for good measure, the suspected convulted reproductive cycle the Mishhuvurthyar race was based on.

Yukari felt the entire world shrink to the size of the Miharu. It seemed no one could be trusted, and everything was suspect.

... She kept listening, forced herself to listen. In a part of secondary mind, to keep it from processing worries and doubts and everything else this briefing was creating, she thought of the waves near her cabin.

Kotori brushed her hair back behind the shoulders - it occured to her it wasn't the first time, but she had no time to dwell on it. "The Mishhuvuthyar were a new nekovalkyrja weapons an isolated portion of PNUgen with an agenda of their own went out of their way to make, basing themselves off a species of little known aliens further out of the boundaries of Yamatai. That species, the Dark Ones, would have apparently subverted part of the weapons being tested and turned the majority of them against the Empire. The Dark ones probably also were the suppliers of the vast fleet the Mishhu originally had in their hands."

"The Black Spiral had contacts with the more reasonable Mishhuvurthyar factions, but as they operated away from the Empire, the way the Mishhuvurthyar had been treated like weapons as well as the general way the nekovalkyrja were treated as a whole in this conflict probably spurred them to take this as an opportunity to act and try to get their freedom from the humans and claim dominance."

"The Dark Ones' faction wants to dominate and enslave the worlds of the Empire. Their desires are said to be malevolent... even by Pumpkin. The Black Spiral faction includes nekovalkyrja and mishhuvurthyar whom want to gain total supremacy over the Empire while being fully willing to use of of the Empire's most disastrous genetic experiment to their advantage. Another faction, probably represented by nekos like Pumpkin, merely wants to come back home... but not to become subservient imperialists under the yoke of humans - they want a fairer political demographic like diplomacy which - given the high population of nekovalkyrja - would in turn support how the Black Spiral wants nekos to gain dominance."

"The three factions have different views, but are joined in one purpose: defeating the Empire to get their way. At the bottom line, either the Yamatai Star Empire faces a full-scale alien invasion, or a cold civil war which is reaching its last, culminating stages."

Kotori waved away the remaining holowindows and asked the Miharu to restore the lighting to normal levels. She hoped it would rekindle the attention of her crew somewhat: it was an information intensive presentation so far."When we finally manage to tell Taisho Yui what we knew, we came to a few conclusions."

"Firstly, the person leading the Black Spiral, the person behind the subversion of the PANTHEON and whom also was able to be one step ahead of us so far is suspected to be a notorious criminal known as Naraku, a rogue NH-17T nekovalkyrja which might actually be a much older and very dangerous nekovalkyrja known as Eve."

"Secondly, it was feasible that if Naraku could imitate Yuumi, she would have also been at the source of how Star Army troops from the Second Standard Fleet would have hunted down the Sakura on suspicions of treason. Whatever massive fleet the Black Spiral would have obtained would likely have been obtained through very similkar means. My suspicions would rest on it being the lost fleet that left for the Draconian sector, which also included a clone of Ketsurui Yui-Taisho. It would explain why Pumpkin expressed they might have the Taisho's support, after a fashion."

"Thirdly, elements of PNUgen, the Black Spiral and the Dark Ones are hypothetically at the source of this whole debacle. The Mishhuvurthyar are effectively nekovalkyrja and so, are not necessarely condemned to be our opponents to the bitter end. Implanted hatchlings born from Taisa Hanako after our captivity prove that the Mishhuvurthyar do not have hostile predispositions toward us at the beginning. If the three elements I stated are disposed off, the invasion of the mishhuvurthyar and the coming of the civil war to create this 'true nekovalkyrja empire' would grind to an halt."

"Therefore, the Sakura was next assigned to participate in a raid against the main PNUgen complex on Yamatai in the hopes of uncovering more information on the shady going ons. Unfortunately, despite being victorious and apprehending many PNUgen employees, the accidental destruction of the Intel computer in the complex jarred our on investigation to an halt. We had no more leads to follow."

Kotori came to more recent events which would be more familliar to both Nyton and Yukari. "At this point, the Mishhuvurthyar returned in full force and, like I stated before, offered a stiff challenge to the fleets guarding over the Empire's south-south west holdings. In an effort to turn the Lorath to their cause, the Black Spiral lent the Mishhuvurthyar a NH-18 nodal metamorphic weapon with an altered ST copy of myself to give the Mishhuvurthyar an edge in their negociations to gain the support of the Lorath." Kotori shrugged. "I apparently had been instrumental in making the alliance work at first, so, I suspect that was the real reason why Pumpkin captured me in the first place: they must have had taken a ST backup of me while I was unconscious."

"We were unaware of the Mishhuvurthyar for a good long time. Black Spiral had assigned a Black Nozomi scout to give false intelligence to SAINT and act as a liaison with the Mishhuvurthyar battlegroup occupying Lor then, leaving the Lorath little choice aside of nodding along with the Mishhu representative and my NH-18 copy; lest they'd have been deemed useless and eliminated before Star Army forces would come to assist them."

"Taisa Hanako managed to negociate a ceasefire with the leader of the Mishhuvurthyar battlegroup since Lor offered very slim pickings for them, but not before the Mishhu somehow teleported a volcanic planetoid in decaying orbit of the Lorath homeworld. From that point, the Star Army ships in system had to devote their resources toward destroying the moon before it made its impact while the Black Nozomi revealed itself and tried to destroy the Sakura. The NH-18 was destroyed ad the Black Nozomi sumarely crippled, with Taisa Hanako being able to obtain valuable information from the scoutship's MEGAMI, including an idea of the whereabouts of the Dark Ones as well as IFF transponder codes."

"Which brings us to this point. While the YSS Sakura maintains a more visible profile and investigates on the whereabouts of the Dark Ones, we handle the Black Spiral." Kotori sighed. "That covers the background information on our assignment. Does anyone have questions on anything brought up to this point before I move on and flesh out our objectives?"

Yukari's questions were far too private, so she kept them to herself. She shook her head gently, then looked to Tom.

Leutre fidgeted in his seat as he half-listened to the briefing. Politics was always so tiresome. Deception, badmouthing, backstabbing... It all bore a startling resemblance to interfactional pirate warfare.

He couldn't help but feel curiosity and respect for the Mishhu, however. In his opinion, anyone with the willpower to break the chains of their servitude deserved at least some respect. He would look forward to the day he actually had the opportunity to meet one face to face.

What were they actually like, as individuals? Were the Dark Ones really fighting simply for superiority, or out of fear that the vengeful tyrant would come and exterminate them? Leutre's father told him never to accept anything blindly, especially when the topic involved interstellar politics. Were the Dark Ones even real at all, or simply a product of Yamataian propaganda? You could never trust a government, that needed to control billions of soldiers, to always tell the straight truth.

Tom scratched his nose as he vacantly watched and listened to the briefing. It was true that most of the information presented to the Yamataian—the matters of clones and conspiracies, of black spirals and black ops—was far beyond what he could understand.

But within Tom's ignorance, there was his own special foresight, crafted from a life left behind long ago. Beyond the words and information displayed to him laid a single, absolute truth.

Many people had died, and many more would die before this terrible ordeal was over.

"Which brings us to this point. While the YSS Sakura maintains a more visible profile and investigates on the whereabouts of the Dark Ones, we handle the Black Spiral."

Click to expand...

Now it's our turn to suffer. The Yamataian moved his hand to his lap, gently stroking his leg.

War. What a travesty.

It made him long for simpler days of chopping wood and playing in the endless snow, and of nights spent dancing and carousing, surrounded by friends, in the taverns of Ralt.

I wonder if I'll ever see my home again...

The thought was fleeting, as the Yamataian suddenly made eye contact with Yukari. He did not know how she felt, or what went through her mind. But the sight of her brought a smile to his face and a glow to his eyes.

Perhaps I will. I made a promise, didn't I?

"To sound like it, the Mishhu have managed something I failed rather dramatically to do. For that, I offer them a nod of respect." Mizuho spoke solemnly, eyes flashing across the assembly about her. Some, certainly, were older than her, but to the guilt-wracked mind of the violet-eyed girl, they all seemed as children. Some were very talented children, certainly. Nyton and Kotori both left a certain tone of respect. But in recent history, only Arild had ever felt as anything more than a little boy cast off to sea in a world he didn't understand.

Perhaps because Arild, too, had seen just how vicious the Elysian wars had been. Arild had no delusions that the mayhem between Mishhuvurthyar and Yamatai was anything new or unique...

"I would question, however, how one ship is intended to, ahem, 'handle' Black Spiral. Miharu is a light escort, yes? Perhaps in a scouting role, espionage... a suicide attack if it comes to it..." A grin. "But I digress. I will save my questions until you finish."

A glance to the side. <i>Goddamn, I miss Bard.</i>